Breaking the wireless connection? —

Sony retail stores slash Vita 3G price in the US

$100 price drop might indicate the cellular unit is being dropped

After Sony officially dropped the price of the PlayStation Vita by about a third in Japan last month, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida came out and said the US shouldn't expect a similar price drop. But US Sony retail stores seem to have a different idea about that, lowering the price of the more expensive 3G system by $100, to $199, ahead of a possible discontinuation of the cellular model.

Joystiq was among the first to notice the price drop, which seems to be limited to a dozen or so of Sony's retail locations throughout the US. Store representatives at locations in Denver, New Jersey and Las Vegas told Joystiq the 3G unit was being discontinued, but other stores had not even registered the price drop yet. Sony's own online store is now showing a reduced price of $249, down from the original $299 price from just last night.

Comparative sales for the 3G and Wi-Fi-only units aren't available for the US, but in Japan, the 3G model of the system is slightly more popular, according to recent data from Media Create. That may be due to both official and unofficial discounts provided by Sony and retailers on the 3G unit, which currently sells for the same suggested price as the Wi-Fi model in Japan. Sony has publicly admitted multipletimes that overall Vita sales have been below expectations.

A 3G link for the Vita was always a bit of a dubious proposition. Sure, it's nice having another pocket device that can access a web browser and Twitter anywhere, but most people already have a smartphone for that, and the Vita doesn't make for a very good smartphone replacement. As far as gaming, many Vita games don't even support full simultaneous multiplayer over a 3G connection, thanks to bandwidth issues. Given the extra upfront cost and monthly fee associated with that cellular service, it never really seemed like a good value proposition.

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

I don't have a use for 3G, but at that price the unit would be tempting... If it wasn't for the overpriced memory cards. And honestly, the games are also too expensive. I don't mind paying a high price for hardware; but hardware, software AND memory cards? Triple combo of expensiveness. Maybe when the base price drops to $150, I'll bite.

If Sony and Nintendo want to deal with competition from smartphones, they need to stop adding gimmicks like 3D or rear touchpads, and focus on games.

They pretty much have. While the rear touchpad is pretty gimmicky it is handy for simulating L2,R2,L3,R3 for PS1 games and makes more sense than more actual buttons on a handheld. 3D for 3DS is a similar issue. For most games it will be a gimmick like the touchpad but for some like Super Mario 3D Land it is a necessity. Even the best smartphone games barely compare to the worst Vita or 3DS games. Having physcial buttons alone makes the 3DS and Vita far superior. I also can't think of single smartphone game I'd be willing to put 60 hours into but can think of several for 3DS and Vita.

If Sony and Nintendo want to deal with competition from smartphones, they need to stop adding gimmicks like 3D or rear touchpads, and focus on games.

I agree that making great games is the most important issue. But why is a rear touchpad a gimmick? If it can be made to enhance the game experience, then it's a feature. Differentiation is a tricky business. They'll stick with what works, and discard what doesn't. I'm glad they're trying new things.

The Vita is my favorite video game system since the Super Nintendo but even I have a hard time justifying why it needs a 3G connection. It's not like you can actually play any multiplayer games on it, it's really only useful for GPS features and leaderboard updates. I've been perfectly happy with my wi-fi only model and it doesn't seem like it's actually gimped in any way from the 3G version.

Price drop on the system is a start. Still going to have to see a big price drop to at least near micro SD card level prices on the Sony priority memory cards before I consider buying. I loved my OG PSP but I wasted way too much money on Pro Duo cards for it that I can't use in anything else and I'm still not happy about that.

If Sony and Nintendo want to deal with competition from smartphones, they need to stop adding gimmicks like 3D or rear touchpads, and focus on games.

I don't know about the Vita, but the 3DS has an excellent library, and hardware sales have been solid. The launch was mismanged, yes, but anyone who says Nintendo hasn't been concentrating on games hasn't looked at what's happened over the last 6 months. And a good number of those games are from 3rd parties.

The WiiU? That's another story, but in the handheld arena, Nintendo is doing just fine.

I don't have a use for 3G, but at that price the unit would be tempting... If it wasn't for the overpriced memory cards. And honestly, the games are also too expensive. I don't mind paying a high price for hardware; but hardware, software AND memory cards? Triple combo of expensiveness. Maybe when the base price drops to $150, I'll bite.

The games aren't too bad. Depending on how much you plan on playing it, a PS+ account actually makes a reasonable amount of sense, I signed up for 15 months for $50 (some promotion at the time, get 3 free months) and the free games that month included Gravity Rush and Uncharted, two of the games I planned on buying anyway. Lumines is currently $13 as a PS+ user. I own a PS3 as well though, so there was an added benefit there.

It has kicked off a bit of a Steam-like buying spree in me, I've bought a few games at $5 that I've never touched. The most expensive game I purchased was $20 (which was Katamari, a retail copy)

The memory cards are definitely horrendous though, they're required even if you don't buy any downloadable games (at least, the box says that, haven't tried it without). Although anyone in Canada, I highly suggest checking out Gamestop/EBGames, a mate in Toronto found a refurbished 32GB card for $40, 16GB for $30. Although not surprisingly, stock is very hard to come by.

ghstd4303 wrote:

If Sony and Nintendo want to deal with competition from smartphones, they need to stop adding gimmicks like 3D or rear touchpads, and focus on games.

What's wrong with the games? The back touch panel hardly adds much to the price (it wouldn't be $50 cheaper without it) and very few games use it. It's a nice idea though, not having to rub your fingers all over the screen, although it's not particularly well utilized in games (most don't use it).

The Vita library is actually surprisingly good, the graphics are good, the controls are good, it's the best handheld I've ever used. The problem isn't the lack of focus on games or targeting it at gamers, it's that it's a disappearing market. I found it incredibly hard to justify yet another electronics device and I'm a pretty avid gamer, I can see most people just passing it over as unnecessary, regardless of how good it is.

I think that the best thing that Sony could do if it is indeed discontinuing the 3G model, is allow for Tethering via Bluetooth. I'm thinking that it was purposely blocked in order to guarantee AT&T some "Data Anywhere" revenue. If they open it up, I certainly hope that they open it on the 3G models as well.

If they do that, along with lowering the price of memory cards ($99 for 32GB? Really?!!) - they just might sell a few more of them... and this is just honest, constructive criticism from a Vita owner who happens to like the hardware a LOT... C'mon developers, let's see more games!

Although the screen on the Vita is stunning, I still hold too much of a grudge against Sony for past transgressions such as no support for their UMD game purchasers when they went away from UMD drives to download-only so you would have to buy all your UMD games all over again to play them on the PSP Go system. Thanks, but no thanks, Sony. . . My gaming dollars will go to some other merchants who don't seem to forget previous customers when they make their decisions on how and where to proceed with future models. Their recent seemingly passive stance on people hacking Planetside 2 shows just how complacent this company is once they have your dollars in-hand. . . You'd think they'd learn by now that once you burn people, they aren't really quick to jump at your products in the future.

I picked up a refurbished Vita about a month ago, and I'm impressed so far; granted, I wish there were more games for it, but between Ragnarok Odyssey, and Persona 4 Golden, I've been really impressed. I've barely scratched the surface of the PSP games that are available, such as Valkyria Chronicles 2, etc.

Insofar as the cost of games is concerned, I also shelled out $49.99 for 1 year of Playstation Plus over last year, and have been accumulating free games ever since; 2-3 free games a month adds up fast. the $90 32-gig card is ALMOST worth it when you can carry around 20-30 games at a time. (if they're PSX or PSP titles)

Although the screen on the Vita is stunning, I still hold too much of a grudge against Sony for past transgressions such as no support for their UMD game purchasers when they went away from UMD drives to download-only so you would have to buy all your UMD games all over again to play them on the PSP Go system. Thanks, but no thanks, Sony. . . My gaming dollars will go to some other merchants who don't seem to forget previous customers when they make their decisions on how and where to proceed with future models. Their recent seemingly passive stance on people hacking Planetside 2 shows just how complacent this company is once they have your dollars in-hand. . . You'd think they'd learn by now that once you burn people, they aren't really quick to jump at your products in the future.

Why in god's name would you have thought it important to go from a PSP to a PSP Go? Complaining about backwards compatibility on the PS4 or whatever I can sort of understand since you "need" to buy into the next gen to get the new games....but the PSP Go added nothing of value other than a slight size reduction. Arguably it was worse due to the smaller, more cramped controls. Also, I'm personally getting tired of the spam in PS2 from CMs always asking for the names of people seen hacking, so maybe you're just on at the wrong time of the day or something.

Anyway, I'm hoping this means they're getting rid of the 3G model in preparation for the $250 LTE model (with corresponding push for multiplayer/"full" online over LTE) and the $200 wifi model. Maybe they could even build 2-4GB of memory in, but I won't get greedy...

I picked up a refurbished Vita about a month ago, and I'm impressed so far; granted, I wish there were more games for it, but between Ragnarok Odyssey, and Persona 4 Golden, I've been really impressed. I've barely scratched the surface of the PSP games that are available, such as Valkyria Chronicles 2, etc.

Insofar as the cost of games is concerned, I also shelled out $49.99 for 1 year of Playstation Plus over last year, and have been accumulating free games ever since; 2-3 free games a month adds up fast. the $90 32-gig card is ALMOST worth it when you can carry around 20-30 games at a time. (if they're PSX or PSP titles)

I played around with Vita at work (SONY set up something just for employees) just prior to it's launch. The system was impressive as hell. I was thinking that the meager game collection is bound to improve with such awesome hardware. Even though I have been burned by SONY before, I was ready to plop down some dough for this one. But then I found out about the special Memory Card and things went downhill from there. $90 for a 32gb memory card is a lot of money. If there were no alternatives, then I guess it would be OK, but in 2013, paying $90 for a memory card that can't be used anywhere else just doesn't seem right.

It just doesn't have any games I'm interested in atm. I really really hate console exclusive because they are all the same with not very different controllers and console features. The exception would be titles for the WiiU that specifically take advantage of that tablet controller functionality. The 3DS and the Vita are so dramatically different that it only makes sense that either would have exclusives. Nothing exciting coming out for the Vita. Ditto on the comments about the over-priced memory cards.

I'll stick to my CFW PSP Go. I don't get why people hated on that thing if they had old PSP UMDs. The Go is super light and thin so I wouldn't want a massive UMD reader on it eating batteries like it's going out of style.

It's a real shame how things have played out so far with the Vita. From a technical perspective, it's a brilliant device, and Sony's hardware design team should be praised for what they put together.

From a convergence standpoint, it's a real blunder. Sony once again alienated a lot of loyal customers, such as myself, who invested in the PSP and were left in the dark when the Vita didn't offer an upgrade path. They have done an OK job integrating with the PS3, but need to ramp things up on that front - and with the PS4 - if they're to have any hope of turning things around.

Sony really needs to get it together and make their stuff work for life from now on. If I buy a digital game for the Vita, it should be playable on the PS3 or PS4. And it should be playable, no questions asked, on whatever the successor is to the Vita (if they bother making one).

This far into its lifespan, the Vita should have more games that are mention-worthy. If I hear Gravity Rush one more time, I autta hit someone. Not saying the game is bad, but how long is that game going to carry the system?

The scariest thing isn't just what is behind us, it's the horizon. There are countless 3DS games coming out in 2013 that really are star titles. Do we know of ~ANY~ major titles hitting the Vita in the next year?

I bought the 3DS and WiiU based on games that we knew were coming out, even if the libraries were tiny at launch. These games were incoming. Titles to look forward to are essential for the success of a platform.